Hybrid
by Techno Skittles
Summary: I don't want to know what she did; She's not who I am; At least that's what I thought; Now I'm second guessing Unofficial sequel to "Quoth the Raven" Grimmdark AU (Cover by weissrabbit on tumblr)


_**{Even though her body's back to normal; She once was a villain and it's hiding in her soul}**_

_ Weiss stood at the feet of the little red girl's corpse, eyes cold and unseeing, sprawled and drenched in a pool of her own blood. She held her prize up high; it was still warm and blood oozed out of it, dripping across her hand and down her arm...Ruby was gone...It smelled of roses...gaping hole in her chest...She had killed...detached and dead heart, beating away..._

She woke with a start, body rigged and breath heavy with the last tendrils of the nightmare slinking away into the darkness of the room. Yet even still it lingered in the air, constantly prodding her with uneasiness and horrible guilt, guilt from the visions that visited her each night. Weiss squeezed her eyes closed to shut out the darkness with her own tranquil emptiness and willed away the taste of death in her mouth and the pounding of her head as the images of the horrible monstrosities she committed ebbed away, only to be archived into the recesses of her brain to haunt her at a later time. This was something she would never escape because it was etched into her being, her very soul itself and could not be cast aside by sheer desire.

This was who she was now.

Something stirred to her left and Weiss pulled herself up to lean against her pillow, careful to not jostle the IV cords too much or rip them out of her arms. The machine to her right still beeped frantically, indicating how she had yet to calm after her nightly terror, but did sound as if it were beginning to slow down over a period of time as the heiress repressed those memories within to be dealt with at a later time - preferably never.

The moonlight revealed a mop of strewn hair lifting itself from her bedspread, bleary eyes blinking to clear away the sands of sleep that had once held them captive in her own - hopefully much sweeter - dreams. Balled fists rose and rubbed at her eyes as a yawn ripped open her mouth wide, filling the quiet hospital room with the sound of breath - life. The sound calmed Weiss even more, the heart monitor at her side slowing a considerable amount as relief coursed through her body, the remnants of the nightmare completely dissolved.

Lifting a frail hand to rest on top of the mess of hair, playing with the gravity-defying wisps that stuck out impossibly, Weiss forced a tired smile. "Did I wake you?"

Two hands reached up to grab the one she was using to pet her head and instead brought it down to rest against a soft cheek which the figure leaned into and nuzzled sleepily, like a cuddly child woken from a nap. "Yeah. But it's okay. I wasn't having too good of a dream anyway."

Weiss winced and tried to retract her hand, but the grip on it was too firm and she not yet recovered enough to fight for it. So instead she slumped in defeat and kept her gaze down to avoid the oncoming waves of guilt. Whilst staring at her blanketed lap, she missed the shining silver gaze, now awake and alert, looking up at her filled with sympathy.

"It wasn't anything like that. Yang had grounded me from eating any sweets..._especially_ cookies."

Before she could stop herself, a chuckle slipped out. Her skin felt taut as her mouth stretched into a smile, the first genuine one in days. But nonetheless the awful weight from her chest alleviated and the silver eyes searching her form found delight and shone. It was a brief moment, but one that Weiss relished in greedily.

"Are sweets really all you think about?"

Ruby chewed on the inside of her cheek, her warm, calloused fingers dancing on top of Weiss' own. "Sometimes." She pulled her hand away from her cheek, running her fingertips around her palm, sending pleasant shivers down Weiss' spine. She was so gentle, so careful, especially when she had no obligation to be. After all that had happened...

Another shiver ran through her, but this time not from her partner's touch.

Abruptly Ruby rose to her feet, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze before stepping away from the bed. The warmth that had stemmed from their touch lingered, but rather than comfort her it only instilled doubt and fear into her heart. Rather than reminding her of her partner's care and affection, the warmth only served as something that would fade and disappear with time, like a ghost. The trembles that shook her body increased and she fought off the urge to cry and pull Ruby closer to her side in fear that she would never return.

The image of Ruby's heart clutched in her taloned grip flashed in her mind and she clamped down on her bottom lip _hard_.

No. No she couldn't lose her. Not again.

Not ever.

She'd risk everything to prevent her dreams becoming reality, everything and anything.

Noticing Weiss' uneasiness, Ruby flashed her a wide smile and ran her fingers through Weiss' loose hair. "Don't worry. I just wanna go check on Yang and Blake in the next room. See how they're feeling. I'll be right back." Withdrawing her fingers from Weiss' hair, something that made the ivory-haired huntress audibly whine much to her humiliation, Ruby tiptoed quietly to the cracked door of her room. Just as she gripped the doorknob, she paused, throwing her gaze back over her shoulder to see Weiss shifting uncomfortably in her bed. "I'll be back. But you should try to sleep anyway. Doc says you need your rest if you're to be released and I know you're just itching to get back to class!" she joked.

Class. After all that happened, such a concept seemed so distant, as if that was lifetimes ago, when in all actuality she'd only been away from it all for just over a week. The corners of her mouth twitched up in a forced smile while inside she felt sick with yearning to just be normal again.

The phantom tickle of a feather brushed across her back and down her arms and she knew that normal no longer applied to her.

At the door, Ruby cast her one more bright smile, one that surely couldn't have been directed at her but rather the shell of what she once was, and slipped out the door and down the hall, the quiet of her padding footsteps fading as they traveled further and further from the room...from her. She briefly considered sleeping as Ruby had suggested, but another flash of a bleeding, warm heart made her stomach churn and induced a gagging reflex and she knew that sleeping would not provide her the comfort she sought. Ruby was the only one who could, because it reassured Weiss that her dreams were not real and that although she was a monster, an innocent's life had been spared despite it.

Although she had no plans to sleep, Weiss slid down until she was lying down, staring up at the blank ceiling. The smell of antiseptics dulled her senses, the continuous hum of machines lulling her into a state of relaxation. Ruby was just down the hall. She was alive. She was safe.

Weiss sighed and turned over on her side, careful to not pull out any of the tubes, and closed her eyes as she waited for Ruby's return. She was no longer a thoughtless monster. She would never hurt Ruby. _Never_. No matter how much her dreams persuaded her otherwise.

She'd protect Ruby with her life.

* * *

><p>The muddled chatter that bounced off the walls in the cafeteria grated on her ears. The loud, unintelligible shouts and shrieks resonated within her and she winced at the unnaturally high volumes. If there was one thing about school that she did not miss, it was this.<p>

Yet she still found comfort in sliding onto one of the wooden benches across from her friends, into something that resembled her life before...everything. Nora was animatedly talking to Yang, catching her up on everything that had occurred in their absence while the boastful blonde devoured her food without any semblance of manners ("That hospital food was awful" was her excuse). Ren was sharing his notes with Blake who was furiously jotting them down in both hers and Yang's notebooks while simultaneously arranging some sparring sessions with Pyrrha and Jaune. Everything looked and sounded normal...so why did Weiss still have a bad taste in her mouth?

She felt rather than heard her team leader plop down beside her on the bench, sliding her tray closer until their trays almost touched. Piled on were what looked like dozens of plates filled with an assortment of different cakes and cookies with one lonely looking apple pushed to the corner.

Yeah. Some things never changed.

"Ruby, I don't think just one apple isn't enough to equate to all of that sugar you have." The words felt odd and heavy on her tongue. It'd been awhile since she had reprimanded her like this.

Already the cloaked huntress was chewing a mouthful of cake, her round cheeks puffed up and dotted with icing. Weiss grimaced but managed to crack a smile at the pure innocence her partner exuberated before dabbing away the crumbs on her face with a napkin much like a mother doting on her infant. However, the moment she touched Ruby's soft skin she had an image of her fingers wrapped around her throat and she quickly retracted her hands, bunching up the napkin in her fist. Weiss bit her tongue and held her breath to the count of three, forcing the image away. No. She wasn't like that anymore. Ruby had saved her.

Wiping off the crumbs and icing with her blazer sleeve, something Weiss normally would've scolded her for but now remained silent, she plucked the apple off the plate and outstretched her hand to Weiss, offering it to her. "Nah. Got this for you! I know you like apples and I didn't see you pick one up like you normally do, so I figured you just...forgot...or something." She shrugged noncommittally, probably not believing the lie she told herself. But she appreciated Ruby not obviously pointing out her lasting uneasiness during such a tough time in front of all their friends. They'd never understand what she felt or went through. She didn't even understand it, or at least she didn't want to. The Grimm persona she donned in that forest, it was something she wanted to leave behind for good. Buried deep within was where it would stay, where it could no longer hurt those close to her.

She took the apple and timidly bit into it, wincing at the sour taste. The crisp crunch of the apple was hardly heard over the cacophony of the lunchroom, but it was something that was more satisfying to feel than hear. Weiss looked forlornly at the apple in her hand, studying the clean marks her teeth made in the skin. Beacon always did have the freshest food, she supposed, but something felt..._off_. However, she only spent a moment pondering over it before biting into the apple once more, pushing the thoughts aside.

This time it tasted bitter and metallic and juice dribbled down her chin. The apple in her hand throbbed to a steady beat, deforming in her hands as something soft, squishy, and warm.

Her eyes widened and she ripped the apple away from her mouth, finally placing the peculiar taste as blood, the juice dripping warm from her lips and onto her lap, bright red dots shining in the fluorescent lighting before being absorbed by her skirt. The thing that had once been an apple was now a beating heart, oozing with blood with a chunk already ripped out of it. She threw it down on her tray, cringing at the wet sound it made once making contact and spit out the piece she had in her mouth, gagging desperately to get it out of her system, to rid herself of the taste of blood.

No no no no no no no no no _no no no no no no_.

A hand on her shoulder startled her out of her horrific ordeal and she looked up to meet two concerned silver eyes. A quick glance to her chest verified that it still remained intact, meaning her heart was where it should be.

"Weiss?"

She blinked away the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes and nodded slowly as if unsure of what was actually going on. Then again, that very well may have been the case.

Just...just what _was_ that?

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine. I think the apple was just...rotten or something."

"That's funny. Doesn't look rotten to me!" Nora interjected from her end of the table.

They both ignored her. "Want me to go get you another one?" offered Ruby.

_No...what if it happens again?_

"No thank you. I think I've lost my appetite."

Ruby frowned but said nothing, something Weiss was grateful for. She didn't want to make up any more excuses, to provide anymore explanations. All she wanted for now was peace and quiet and the reassurance that her partner was still here, breathing, heart beating _inside_ her chest.

Her hands fisted themselves around her skirt hem, her teeth gnawing into her bottom lip. Would these gruesome images follow her everywhere she went? Was there no place she was safe from their torment? First her dreams, now during the day as well...it surely wouldn't be long before she went insane at a rate like this. She fought off the urge to duck under the table and curl into a ball. That wasn't her anymore. Ruby hadn't risked her life for nothing. She was Weiss Schnee, daughter of one of the biggest business typhoons and heir to a multinational company, future huntress and defender of the people. She was the skilled partner of the leader of Team RWBY, one of the most successful teams of the freshman class as well as some of the upper classes. She was a star student and popular amongst her peers. That was the _real _her.

So why did it all feel like a lie?

Why did she still feel like one of those..._monsters_?

Despite the inner turmoil that was boiling and festering inside of her, everyone else seemed to return to their business after her outburst, chatting normally again as if there wasn't an evil presence lurking in the air. They smiled and laughed, while Weiss struggled to breathe, choking on her past-image, on what she used to be, on what she was still trying to outrun. It made her sick to her stomach and burned at the back of her eyelids. At this point she'd give anything to join her friends in their conversations centered around trivial topics, to exorcise this darkness that she felt constantly and feel lighthearted again, like the spoiled little girl she came here as.

Not being able to stand it any longer, Weiss stood from her seat, abandoning her lunch tray and walking down the aisle between the tables towards the exit. She wasn't entirely sure where she was headed but figured that she'd find out once she got there. However, before she made it even halfway there, a small hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her gently to a halt. It was warm. The heiress already identified it as her partner's hand that had stopped her before she had even turned around.

Her mouth was quirked into a frown, forehead wrinkled with worry and concern. Large doe eyes bore into her, something that looked so wrong with her childlike features.

"Weiss...please. You can talk to me, you know. We're partners. I'm here for you. I'm _always_ here for you."

_And that's exactly what almost got you killed_.

Blurred flashes of Ruby reaching out to her, offering help flashed before her mind, quickly leading up to her cold, lifeless body sprawled on the ground, bleeding heavily from the gaping hole in her chest, silver eyes dull and void to the world that had been so cruel to such a kind soul...

Weiss shook her head. Ruby was _here_.

_Which just meant that she's still at risk._

It was at that moment that a looming shadow cast over Ruby's small form, shrouding her completely in darkness. Weiss started at the intense fear that she was about to disappear again, that it would once again be her fault that Ruby would be taken from her, but relaxed when she noticed that the shadow was just that, a shadow. Not some inky blackness hungrily feeding on the innocent light of her partner and savior, but just a large form blocking the overhead light.

It was only when Weiss noticed just what, or rather _who, _was blocking the light that she tensed again, growing irritated at the condescending smirk plastered over his broad face.

Only a fool would smile in Cardin Winchester's presence.

Not a thing about him had changed: a broad-shouldered, muscular hunter-in-training who, rather than focus on using his skill and ability to better himself, used his enhanced build to his advantage to bully and pick on those smaller than him, including those more than capable of wiping the floor with his face but too mature to do so. Even now his smug look reigned over the two shorter huntresses, crossed arms placed just so to enhance his hard chest and flex his muscles through his shirt in an attempt to intimidate them. His eyes held a dark twinkle in them, one which Weiss recognized immediately as one of a predator zoned in on their prey.

She paused. Had she...once looked at Ruby like that?

She shook the thought from her mind. If she had, she clearly wasn't herself.

Cardin's smirk curled into a sneer, meant to make one weak at the knees and tremble in fear, but Ruby and Weiss both knew better. His words had nothing on them. They had been through so much, too much, to be phased by petty words spoken by a man with such little confidence himself.

"So have you two been skipping classes lately or...did something happen?"

Weiss rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, mirroring Cardin's stance, and opened her mouth to retort when Ruby spoke first.

"Bug off, Cardin."

He quirked a single eyebrow at this, not surprised but amused, as if that had been the exact answer he had been anticipating. He uncrossed his arms and held his hands up in a sign of peace, one that they all knew was just for show to make him look like the victim should things get heated. However, they were better than that. They could maintain a civilized conversation, even with a barbarian such as him.

"Hey, Little Red! Calm down! I'm just asking as a concerned classmate! I mean, your entire team vanished after all, some things were said and passed around...I just wanted to check."

Suddenly Weiss had the feeling of a thousand eyes upon her and she felt her throat constrict, suffocating her under the pressure. She hadn't thought about that before. They had all disappeared for quite some time, with Blake in the hospital and the rest of them in the forest fighting physical and inner demons...rumours were sure to circulate. It made her wonder what others were saying and made her fear what they already knew.

_Do they know I'm a monster, too?_

"We're fine," Ruby replied curtly. Weiss could see she was becoming visibly annoyed now, something so rare for the normally hyperactive pinball of a girl. Then again, Cardin could push Nora into homicidal rage (an incident that no one wanted to remember). "If that's all, I'd like to talk to my partner _alone_ now."

"But is it true?"

"Is _what_ true?"

This time Cardin looked genuinely taken aback. "You haven't heard any of the rumours they've been saying about you?" At Ruby's puzzled look and Weiss' worried one, his cruel smirk returned and he laughed lowly, wiping imaginary tears from the corners of his eyes. Irritation bubbled within Weiss, starting from the tips of her toes and steadily rising until it curdled in her stomach, making her feel warm and tremble slightly. The worry, still frozen in her heart, was slowly being thawed by her anger at Cardin's evasive yet taunting behavior.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. There's just been talk that the the pathetic leader of team RWBY almost got her entire team killed and was facing the threat of expulsion." She grit her teeth together, ignoring the rough grinding noise that screeched in her head. "Is it true, Little Red? Did you almost kill all your friends?" Her nails bit into the skin of her palms, digging deep enough to draw blood as her irritation grew, nearly filling her to the brim with barely contained anger.

First, she'd rip out his tongue and listen to his screams turn into gurgles when he starts to choke on his own blood. Then, she'd claw at every inch of skin possible, digging deep enough to put him in agony but not enough to make him bleed too heavily, lest she give him a quick and relatively painless death. And then -

Her breath caught in her throat and she took a step back to detach herself from those thoughts. _No. _That wasn't her. That wasn't her. It _was not her_. She was cured. Ruby saved her. She was Weiss Schnee, daughter of one of the biggest business typhoons and heir to a multinational company, future huntress and defender of the people. _Her eyes burned. _ She was the skilled partner of the leader of Team RWBY, one of the most successful -

A sniffle interrupted her inner mantra, the one she had developed on her first night in the hospital to help her calm down when Ruby was not able to, and she lifted her head back up to find her partner barely holding back tears, lip wobbling. A surge of sympathy and protectiveness washed over her, urging her to reach out and comfort her partner - no her _friend_ - right then and there, something that was not a common occurrence in any circumstance, but especially so in public. She wanted to assure her that nothing was her fault, that the whole thing was some kind of freak accident that had never been previously reported and for all they knew was a new development in mankind itself, a new phenomenon to be studied and looked into and that she couldn't have known, none of them could have. It wasn't her place to feel so guilty, not when she had done everything she could as team leader to bring her team back together, despite the risk of losing her own life over it all. There had never been anyone braver and more caring than her to go out of her way to save her teammates as she had and to listen to anyone try to belittle her actions would not only be an insult to herself but those who cared for her.

And she almost had. She almost had done just all of that.

But she caught one glance of Cardin's face, his smug look of victory, and then...

She...she couldn't remember anything but pure and utter _rage_.

A rush of adrenaline tore through her body violently, so powerful and strong it felt like it was going to rip her to shreds unless she unleashed her fury on something, someone, _anything_. She could faintly hear surprised shouts over the pounding of drums in her ears and the panicked eyes of the man before her, looking down on her in pure, unadulterated fear through the burning behind her eyes. She relished in the consternation oozing from his being, feeding the darkness creeping up inside her and filling her with a euphoria that she had never felt before, not in a manner such as this. She felt the corners of her mouth curl into a grin, something that seemed to strike a deeper well of alarm as he began to tremble beneath her hand, his throat squirming against her palm in an attempt to free itself.

"Weiss! Weiss, _put him down!_"

Her eyes snapped open and the heated haze dissolved in a heartbeat. The adrenaline seeped out of her body slowly and her hand released itself from Cardin's throat, leaving him to drop to the ground in a heavy heap gasping for the air he was previously deprived of. Her knees wobbled as she stumbled backwards, away from what she had just done, as if it were something she could erase if she simply walked away from. A hush of murmurs erupted across the cafeteria, sympathetic eyes cast towards Cardin, curious - and in some cases, _afraid_ - eyes in her direction. It was a struggle to stand tall and poised when it seemed as if you now had the whole world's attention and all they could think of you were questionable, if not down right damnable, things about you. A normal person would've surely crumpled into a ball and ducked their head down to avoid the burning gazes searing their skin, but Weiss was not normal.

No, she was not. And at this point she probably never would be.

Cardin's team had by this time rushed from their table to come to his aid, shooting dirty looks at her every so often. Team JNPR, Yang, and Blake had risen from their table down the aisle, not quite moving towards them but rather hovering in place as if unsure whether it was safe or wise to approach such a sensitive situation. A brief glance at all their faces told her of their concern but underlying reproachfulness, something she couldn't exactly blame them for. But for Yang there was neither concern nor hostility but...familiarity. It was an odd reaction to an event like this, one that she would've loved to question the blonde brawler about, but her attention was tugged back to the situation at hand, and soon the expression was all but put out of her mind altogether.

Cardin was just now standing up from the floor, rubbing his throat gingerly in an attempt to soothe it where his wheezing could not. Red marks marred his otherwise tan skin and Weiss winced visibly when she recognized them in the shapes of her fingers.

Just what had come over her?

A gentle touch to her shoulder send her skyrocketing, wide, panicked eyes finally resting on the watery ones of her leader's. Once she recognized who it was she took a step back, slipping out from under her hand, leaving it to dangle in mid-air before flopping uselessly to her side.

"Weiss?"

The heiress violently shook her head and took another step back, pressing her lips into a fine line. Without a word, afraid of what would come out should she try to explain herself (not that she would even know how to do that), she spun on her heel and briskly walked towards the exit and out the cafeteria, doing her best to ignore how the students parted themselves to make way for her, as if she would lash out at them next. A few of them subconsciously touched their necks and she sped up, pulling her arms closer to her stomach to show them she meant no harm and to assure herself of the same.

It was only when she was out of the stifling cafeteria and across the courtyard that Weiss finally recognized the feeling she had when choking Cardin.

The first tear slipped down her cheek and she bit her lip, muffling her sobs lest any passerby hear her. Her shoulders shook uncontrollably as she ducked behind one of the academic buildings, which one she couldn't identify through her blur of tears, and sank to the ground, breathing heavily.

That feeling...it had been the same one that controlled her when she had tried to kill Ruby.

The same primal bloodthirst she had during her time as a Grimm.

_It had never left and never would_.

* * *

><p>If she didn't stop with that incessant tapping in the next five seconds Weiss was going to blow a gasket.<p>

They were in the library sitting at table trying to catch up on work that afternoon. By "they" it was just Weiss actually being productive and Ruby staring off into space with a blank look on her face, obnoxiously beating her pen on the tabletop and disrupting the heiress' concentration. If the dolt was just going to sit there and daydream, why did she bother coming in the first place?

But she wasn't the only one disobeying the rule of absolute silence. Behind them sat three upperclassmen at one of the tables, talking in hushed tones about anything but schoolwork it seemed. It even sounded like they mentioned her a couple times.

She frowned and tuned them out.

Now if only it were so easy to do so with her partner. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see Ruby staring at the table, not really seeing it but rather something invisible to Weiss, absentmindedly tapping her pen on the table. Weiss sighed and returned her gaze back to her book, flipping a page but not reading anything that she looked over, only scribbling notes subconsciously. Ever since the cafeteria incident with Cardin a few days prior, Ruby had kind of just...shut down. She became less active in conversations, zoned out in the middle of class more frequently, and overall just seemed down and out of it. Weiss squirmed in her scene and twirled her pen around her fingers, eyes skimming the text for something she was only half paying attention to. This was her fault, of course. Maybe what she had done to Cardin had triggered something in Ruby, bringing back the fear she saw in her back in the forest when she was that..._thing_.

Weiss shut her eyes and exhaled deeply. Maybe it had never really left her, just pushed aside for the sake of not upsetting her. They hadn't really talked much about what had happened when they got back. Weiss was tight lipped about it, not wanting to resurface horrid memories from her time as an evil monster, and Ruby not being the one to pry left her alone.

But if Ruby really was so afraid of her, that didn't explain why she asked to accompany her to the library.

Weiss looked back over at Ruby when the tapping suddenly stopped, planning to make a sarcastic remark on how she was thoroughly enjoying her little performance but the words caught in her throat when she found two silver eyes staring straight back at her dauntlessly. Her back stiffened and she almost snapped her pen in half in surprise.

That was another thing. The staring.

It was often a time that Weiss would look or briefly glance over at her leader to see the young girl staring directly at her, unwavering and highly aware of what she was doing. It unnerved her immensely, knowing that at any time those round eyes could be watching her while she was none the wiser, studying her like some strange specimen that could simply unlock all its secrets if you stared at it long and hard enough. Normally she'd be thankful that Ruby could even still look her way without caution glinting in her eyes, but she found this contemplative look much more disturbing.

Wanting to escape her leader's watchful eyes, Weiss closed the book resting in front of her on the table and stood to go and put it back on the correct shelf. Yet even as she walked away, past the table with the upperclassmen now discussing rumours about Roman and his goonies' sudden lack of criminal activity, she could still feel those silver eyes following her, boring holes into her back. She felt an odd twitch between her shoulder blades, but shrugged it off as part of the uneasiness she got from being scrutinized unwaveringly.

The shelf where she had found the book was only a few paces away from their table, but she took great time in thumbing past the multitude of books resting on the shelves, running her fingers along their binders as she watched closely for the empty space that the book filled. In the past couple of days she had hid herself away in the library, away from judgmental eyes and whispered gossip and away from her team. It was a place where she could spend time collecting her thoughts and when that grew too exhausting somewhere where she could just revel in the quiet while avoiding the curious gazes of all her peers.

She came across the empty spot from which she took the book and tried to slide it in, using a bit more effort than she should've had to use since that was where she had pulled the book from in the first place. It should've fit perfectly logically, but she supposed that maybe she was looking at it from the wrong angle and figured that it was in there now so it shouldn't matter. Shrugging her shoulders, she turned to return to her table to find Ruby now standing beside her, watching unfazed when Weiss let out a startled yelp but her sudden presence. She hadn't even heard Ruby walk up to her.

"Jeez! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she whisper-yelled, clutching the front of her shirt over her heart, waiting for it to return to its normal pace. "You can't just sneak up on people like that!"

Ruby said nothing. Instead she chewed on the inside of her cheek and shuffled her feet, suddenly nervous around her instead of the passiveness she had been displaying for the past few days. She was also no longer staring at her but instead at the bookshelf behind her, a sign that she clearly wanted to avoid any possible eye contact. Weiss opened her mouth to question Ruby's sudden shift in strange behaviors when she blurted out, "I want you to talk to me!"

Placing a cool hand over her mouth, Weiss shushed her, glancing around for anyone who had noticed her outburst. "Quiet, you dolt! We're in a library!" A moment later she removed her hand and crossed her arms, skeptically raising an eyebrow. "And I am talking to you. If there's anyone who's been silent the past few days it's you."

Ruby shook her head and stopped her shuffling. "No I mean...Weiss, there's something going on with you that you're just not telling me." Her eyes grew sad and she hunched over with a pout. "You've been...kinda shut in ever since we got back and I can tell that something's bothering you but every time I ask you shut me down!" She took a step closer and lifted her head up, staring Weiss dead in the eye. "I'm worried about you. We _all_ are. If you keep these things bottled up eventually you'll..." Her sentence drifted off on a guilty note and her eyes dropped down to the floor between their shoes.

Mild anger boiled inside her. "What? I'll explode again? Like I did with Cardin?"

"I didn't say that," she said meekly.

"You didn't have to." The once hushed library now felt dead silent, the air tense and stifling and Weiss wished to be anywhere else. This wasn't something she wanted to talk about and she had thought that Ruby had been okay with that. Evidently she had been wrong.

"Move."

When Ruby showed hesitation to listen, Weiss pushed herself past the red-clad huntress and stomped away fuming. She was nearly gone when she heard Ruby shout after her and her words resonated with her long after night came and went.

_"You can't hide from this, Weiss!"_

It was a truth she was already too well aware of.

* * *

><p>When she entered the dorm room after her last class she found Ruby sitting on her bunk, cloak wrapped around her like a blanket, staring at the floor. Her first thought questioned why Ruby was sitting on her bed instead of her own, but then the more pressing question came to mind.<p>

_Does she still hate me?_

They hadn't spoken a word to each other since their argument in the library and it had gotten to the point that Weiss had convinced herself that Ruby no longer wanted anything to do with her. It was agonizing not being able to talk to her like they normally did, especially when right now Weiss sought whatever sense of normality that was still available to her. She went back to excelling in all her classes, appeasing the teachers with her outstanding intelligence and hard work while making all of the students below her level groan at her overeagerness. She trained regularly with Pyrrha, enhancing her fighting abilities to even greater levels, something she felt especially important now. Incompetence would not do and even one mistake could cost you a great deal. She had learned that the hard way.

But with Ruby refusing to speak to her, everything was off kilter and indulging herself in activities she once genuinely enjoyed took too much effort to partake in. She was tired most of the time, which only made her nightmares worse at night. Now she saw herself eating Ruby's heart on a regular basis and other times she saw Cardin lying next to Ruby's corpse with a twisted neck and clawed out eyes. The more stressed she became, the more gruesome her dreams constructed themselves to be.

With her hand on the doorknob as a precaution should she need to leave, Weiss cleared her throat. "Hey."

Ruby nodded her acknowledgment but that was all.

Weiss deflated and gripping the handle harder. Of course she still hated her. It was foolish of her to hope otherwise.

She cleared her throat again. "So, um, where are Yang and Blake?"

"Somewhere else." Weiss watched as Ruby lifted herself off the bed and let her cloak fall behind her in a lackluster swishing motion. Her hair was strewn about like she had just woken up from a nap and underneath her eyes were dark circles hanging down like weights. She'd been having trouble sleeping as well it seemed.

_No thanks to you_.

Weiss shook that thought from her head as Ruby made her ways towards her slowly, as if in a daze. Her feet dragged sluggishly across the floor and her eyes blinked tiredly, but her stride was steady and Weiss could tell that she was determined to make her way over to where Weiss stood. So in an effort to relieve some of the pressure from her, the heiress decided to meet her halfway, holding her steady when she began to sway in place.

"Ruby you look like you haven't slept in days. You should rest."

The small brunette shook her head and looked up with bleary but hard eyes. Her stance straightened up and she wriggled out of Weiss' grip on her arms, standing completely on her own. Most of her dreariness dissolved away with the cut off contact and the only giveaway to her exhaustion were the bags beneath her eyes. "No, we need to talk."

Talk. Of course that's what she wanted. Even though Weiss definitely felt unwilling to give in to such a demand, she felt that she owed her as much after everything she had put her through. As distant as they had been lately, she was aware that ultimately most of this was because of her and to turn Ruby down now would be to invalidate everything she had caused out of pure selfishness. So she nodded silently, complying to cooperate.

This response caught Ruby off-guard for a second, the younger girl probably expecting Weiss to put up more of a fight. But she only let this deter her for a short moment before hardening herself again, eyebrows furrowed and arms crossed against her chest. Well, here goes nothing.

But instead of drilling her with questions and demanding answers, Ruby just knelt before Weiss and looked into her eyes. She opened her mouth and closed it again and she could see the gears turning in her head as she tried to come up with what she wanted to say. They sat there like that for a moment, close together, closer than they had been in days and Weiss realized she had no place she'd rather be than right here with her partner. The light outside was fading fast, the sun setting on the horizon in the far off distance, but in this small room, so close to Ruby, her fearless leader who was now nervously chewing on her bottom lip, Weiss could pick up the sun's lays rays of warmth, dispelling the cold spell that had been cast over her for what seemed like centuries. The dying embers of sunlight cast them both in a warm orange hue, the color turning Ruby's round cheeks rosy and her own pale skin giving off a more natural glow.

In this moment, just together and alone with the disappearing sun, Weiss felt more at peace than she had since this whole thing began. Her body relaxed visibly, the stiffness of her shoulders melting away along with her worries even if only just for now. Just this moment.

Her partner shifted below her with indecision and she found herself running her hand through her short locks. They were so soft, almost what she imagine the wisps of a cloud felt like. She felt Ruby relax and continued stroking her hair, almost missing the glint of decision in her eyes and the uncertainty in the wobble of her lip. But even so Ruby made no move to speak nor anything else, so Weiss continued to play with her hair, watching how the light hypnotically bounced off each individual strand and cast a shower of natural glimmer entangled with her dark hair.

"Weiss."

Her voice was so soft and quiet that if it were not for their close proximity and the total hush of the world around them she wouldn't have picked up on it. When she tilted her head down, Ruby simultaneously tilted hers up, mouth parted in the middle of an attempt to speak, but frozen in place by the initiation of eye contact. They watched each other carefully, predicting the other's next move until it seemed as if they were connected on some similar brainwave. The distance between them disappeared and just when they were close enough to taste each other's breath, Ruby paused, so Weiss did, too.

"I just...You know I'm here for you, right? Like, you don't have to hide anything from me." Her eyes shifted downwards and she touched her forehead to Weiss'. "I really care about you, you know."

She saw Ruby laying underneath her with a pained smile, felt the warm blood drenching her fingers as they wrapped around her pulsing heart, muscles tensed and ready to rip it out of her chest. The young girl was so pale and weak she already looked dead and she must've known because she offered Weiss one last smile despite the agony she must've been in and struggled through her last words.

_"It always belonged to you."_

Her heart beat faster at the memory of the terrible vision, the one she saw each night in her dream and suddenly being this close to Ruby worried her. Just as she was about to pull away Ruby leaned the rest of the way up, gently molding her lips to hers. The were chapped but soft and she could taste the cookies that she had at lunch even though it was much later in the day. And as soon as she was there she was gone, chin to her chest and steady pink blush across her cheeks. It all happened in one instant, but it was a memory that would last a lifetime.

Another flash of memory appeared before her, one of Ruby sleeping next to her hospital bed, her hand clutched tightly around hers right after she had woken from a particularly horrifying nightmare.

She smiled and gently took Ruby's head into her hands, pulling her forward to plant a chaste kiss on her forehead. "You dunce.

"I really care about you, too."

* * *

><p>The chilled night wind blew threw her, tossing her hair about her head and up in the air, twisting and turning it in such ways that it looked like it could be dancing. The moon above her cast its cool light down on the academy, washing her out in pale light from the rooftop that she was perched. The broken pieces of the moon hung suspended in the sky by invisible strings and she imagined those strings breaking, sending the pieces to plummet down to the ground, separating themselves from the moon entirely. The lamp lights below were flickering on one by one, illuminating the sidewalks so that any late night walkers would not lose their way. It was a quiet transition from day to night and was a pleasant spectacle to observe.<p>

A warm body dropped down next to her and she picked up the scent of heat, like something burning, immediately.

"Hey, Ice Queen."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Will you ever stop calling me that?"

Yang grinned and bumped her shoulder with the heiress'. "Once it stops being true."

The last of the lamps below was lit, fully illuminating the paths between the buildings and dorms. Weiss watched her feet dangle off the side of the building, contemplating just how high they were and what it would feel like to fall from this height. Something in her back twitched at the thought and she rolled her shoulders to make the ache go away.

Next to her Yang was lounged on the edge much like she was, except for the fact that she was laying instead of sitting, eyes lifting skywards. Her feet bounced off the wall of the building as she kicked them, forming a steady beat as she hummed a quiet tone to herself. Her blonde curls seemed to absorb the moonlight, shining radiantly against the gravel of the rooftop, like fire licking up between the cracks.

Fire and ice.

"Not to be rude or anything but, why are you here?" Weiss asked.

She saw Yang's torso twitch on the ground and figured that was her way of shrugging while laying on her back. "Figured you could use the company."

"And what about Blake?"

"Watching over Rubes for me."

Weiss nodded and turned back to the academy laid out before her. Right after her and Ruby's moment back in their room - were her cheeks always this warm? - the young huntress had fallen asleep rather quickly, her lack of sleep finally catching up to her. Weiss had debated on staying with her and watching over her as she slept, but finally decided she'd rather have a bit of time to herself to think. So before setting out for a spot to be alone she had tucked Ruby into her bed, just this once.

The kicking stopped. "She's worried about you, ya know."

The heiress pulled on her ponytail, running her fingers through the tangles the wind had created. "So I've been told."

The crunch of gravel signaled Yang's shifting weight, probably transitioning from her laying position to sitting up straight in an attempt to properly talk to her. Bits of gravel were caught in her unruly curls, something Yang picked at absentmindedly while staring down at the sidewalk below them. Her fingers combed through with ease, knocking all the bits of gravel from her hair and back to the ground, something that really shouldn't have been possible with a mane such as hers. Then again, Weiss supposed that living with hair like that would have made her accustomed to its habits and behaviors and that the blonde must've known what she was doing.

"So, uh...hey...that thing with Cardin..."

Weiss sighed. _Here we go._

Yang's hands paused in their search for gravel and she eyed Weiss from the corner of her eye, lips forming into a complexed frown. "Your eyes...they, uh...well...I think they turned gold."

Gold? Now it was Weiss' turn to frown. Why would her eyes be gold? Unless...

Something clicked in that instant and she suddenly felt very, very sick. Gold or rich yellow, the same colored eyes that Grimm had. The situation lacked any semblance of humor, but she found herself wanting to laugh anyway.

She must've done just that too because now Yang was staring at her like she had grown a second head. "Errr...you okay there?"

Still smiling, though not from actual amusement mind you, she nodded and brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "Just fine. Things are just a bit crazy lately."

Yang grunted and leaned back again, ditching her efforts in removing the gravel. "You're telling me, Snow Princess."

Just as she was about to reprimand her for calling her another insufferable nickname, Weiss stopped mid-breath as she came to a realization: Yang had gone through the same ordeal she had. So that meant that there was a possibility she had nightmares too or she felt like the monster that she was was creeping up on her, right? She looked off to her right to see Yang laying back on the ground, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger as she stared up at the sky.

It wouldn't hurt to ask, would it?

Before she had a chance to open her mouth to ask, Yang beat her to the punch.

"Do you...feel it, too?"

Perhaps they thought more alike than she had previously believed.

"Yeah."

Yang nodded, pulling roughly on the single piece of hair wrapped around her finger. "Good. It's not just me then." She sounded honestly relieved, much like Weiss herself felt knowing that this wasn't something she was experiencing alone. It's scary enough believing yourself to be a mindless monster who could strike out at any moment, so to share the same fears and worries with someone was comforting in a twisted kind of way.

"Do you ever have...visions or dreams where you kill someone? Someone like, Blake?"

Lilac eyes grew large in alarm before she furiously shook her head. "No, no, nothing like that. I just...I feel..._trapped._ Like I'm trapped in the darkness and there's no way of me getting out." She sighed and shuddered, reaching towards the sky, fingers searching for the escape she desperately sought out that was still just out of reach. "I feel lost and alone...it's awful."

Weiss frowned and bit the inside of her cheek. It did sound awful, but why was her own experience so gruesome compared to Yang's?

_Because you were a hunter._

She shook the thought away just as Yang was asking her own question.

"Why? Do you have dreams where you kill people?"

Her eyes dropped to the brick sidewalk beneath them, wondering for the second time what a fall from this height would feel like. "All the time."

Yang nodded thoughtfully, no visible disgust or wariness to be seen. It was a relief but at the same time her lack of concern was...well...disconcerting. Especially since she must've known that it was her that had almost killed Ruby, her little sister, and that those were the very same dreams she had each night. A slacker she might be, but Yang was by no means dumb.

"It's scary, isn't it?"

Weiss breathed a weak laugh, one that was just tired of all it and wanted nothing more than to leave everything behind and began anew. "That's putting it lightly."

A wide hand clapped down on her shoulder and she looked over her shoulder to find Yang now standing, bending over in order to reach Weiss' lower height where she was sitting. "Yeah, I guess. But we'll get through it! You're a tough girl, Weiss." She snickered and stood up straight, pulling her hair out of her face into a high ponytail with her hands and holding it there. "I don't think I've ever seen a girl maintain a manicure during a fight like you do. That takes some real strength right there."

She rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, feeling much lighter with Yang's oddball compliment. Only the blonde brute could turn her mood in such a strange way.

Yang returned her smile and let her hair fall in favor of stretching out her muscles. Weiss took this as her cue to stand up as well, knowing that it was getting late and that they both should be heading to bed. After all, even though it was the weekend, both her and Yang had to rise early. The hospital wanted to run some extra tests on them, just to make sure they had returned to peak health and to maybe find out just what had happened to make them go all Grimm-psycho. The idea of people running tests on her made her feel like a specimen experiment and wasn't something she was overjoyed to participate in, but she figured that to prevent cases from happening like this in the future, it'd be best if she cooperated. After all, no one should have to go through something like that. She wouldn't even wish it on someone like Cardin.

The two girls left the rooftop and were now walking down the dorm hallways, deescalating down to their level on one of the lower floors. They walked in silence, not needing words to establish this new mutual understanding. Talking now would be out of place and abnormal anyhow, and this way was much more comfortable for each party. They understood each other well enough now. This was a bond that no one else could share with them. It was a twisted way of bonding, but somehow it fit for them, what with their contrasting personalities and all.

Fire and ice.

In fact, the only other things they had in common were huntressing, their team, and Ruby...

Ruby. That was right. She had...they had..._oh right_. And with Ruby being Yang's little sister, well, she ought to have a right to know, right? And they were good enough friends where Yang wouldn't want to tear her head off.

Right?

Yang had told her on the roof that she hadn't had any homicidal urges, but she wouldn't put it past her to develop any. The thought made her wary, but if they were going to be a team, they couldn't keep secrets from each other right.

Well, this was a good time as any to test out the strength of their new bond.

Weiss cleared her throat loudly, catching the attention of the blonde brawler who rose her eyebrows in question. _Here goes nothing._

"Umm...well before I went on the roof today I talked to Ruby...well I mean...we didn't _talk_ a lot because she was very tired but we did a little I think and..."

When she didn't continue, Yang stopped in the middle of the hallway and Weiss did the same. "And?"

Weiss swallowed. "We, uh...kissed? Sort of?"

It grew silent after that, Yang freezing in her place, Weiss melting in hers. Time ticked by slowly as the blonde stared down at the tinier huntress, her blank expression giving nothing for Weiss to work with. So she waited, completely still but panicking on the inside. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but there were times that she was genuinely afraid of Yang, and this was one of them.

After just a few seconds that felt like hours, Yang burst out in boisterous laughter, doubling over and placing her hands on her knees as she wheezed. Weiss stood in disbelief, definitely not expecting that reaction out of all the ones she had mentally conjured, but only slightly irritated with the direction she took it. Leave it to Yang to turn another seemingly intense moment into a lighthearted one. That didn't stop Weiss' knees from wobbling and knocking together though.

When Yang had finally stopped laughing, there tears of mirth gathered at the corners of her eyes. She wiped at them with her fingers while Weiss finally gained control of her shaking legs and stood firm, crossing her arms like she normally did when annoyed.

"Oh man! Oh man she did it!" Yang shook her head and continued walking down the hallway again, a large smile plastered on her face, a radiant glow emitting from her as Weiss struggled to catch up with her much shorter stride. "She's been crushing on you for months now and she _finally_ does something about it." She chuckled again and fist pumped the air. "Go sis!"

"So..." Weiss took a particularly large stride to fall instep with the blonde huntress. "So you're not mad?"

Yang blinked a few times. "Mad? 'Course not! Should I be?"

Weiss shrugged. "I mean, not really, but...I just guessed you would be."

Her head was yanked to the side roughly by her neck, caught in a headhold by Yang who used her advantage to ruffle Weiss' hair despite her very loud protests. "Nope! You make her happy and right now...well we could all use a little happiness." She let go, laughing at Weiss' disheveled hair and watched with amusement as she tried to fix it back into place. "Besides, I kinda see you as a little sister too."

Weiss pouted. "Because I'm short?"

Yang winked. "That's only half the reason." And on that note she continued walking down the hall, opened their room door, and stepped inside, leaving Weiss alone in the hallway to fix her hair. The heiress grumbled on about how immature the "big yellow brute" could be, but realized halfway through her rants and rambles, she was smiling.

* * *

><p>Weiss and Yang were walking down the infirmary corridors on their way back to the dorm when the world was turned upside down.<p>

The check-up prior to the explosion had gone well enough. The doctors had run the basic tests on their vitals, deeming them both fully recovered from their "Grimm infection" as they called it. Next the scientists from Vale's Grimm Research facility came in to take their blood and run their own tests, saying they'd have results in just a few days and they'd get back them on whether they needed more tests or not, much to Weiss' disgruntlement. But they were released shortly after to return to their dorm where they could happily pass out since they had woken so early.

However, it seemed that wasn't going to happen anymore.

Her and Yang shared a mutual look of confusion and panic before sprinting down the hall toward where they heard the explosion. Alarms were now ringing overhead all over campus. Distant screams were heard outside.

Weiss briefly wondered why their school was now deciding to spontaneously combust, but realized that the "why" wasn't the most pressing issue at the moment. The most important thing was helping out in any way they could and catching up with their team. So they ran as fast as they could.

Another explosion went off somewhere, this time much closer and the hallway they stood in rattled violently, throwing them to the ground. Glass broke behind them and windows shattered beside them, but they ignored the scattered shards of glass and persevered. Underneath them the glass crunched and lessened their traction, but this did not slow them down in the slightest.

Over the blaring alarms they heard the rhythmic bursts of gunshots and knew that now a full-fledged battle outside. A student, one from their grade, rushed towards them in a panic, missing a shoe and dirt covering their hands and knees. Weiss side stepped in front of them, effectively cutting them off from going further and firmly grasped their shoulders. They trembled in her grip, eyes wide and chest heaving.

"What happened?" Weiss shouted over the alarm.

The student, a girl as small as Ruby, shook her head. "These...these huge robots burst in and...just started shooting people! And there's a whole bunch of White Fang and there were explosions and..."

The girl rambled on but Weiss had tuned her out, looking at Yang who frowned and cracked her knuckles. There was only one person they knew of who was working with the White Fang and that was...

"Roman."

They took off again, leaving the rattled girl behind (as Weiss walked beside her she realized that in her initial panic she hadn't smelled the blood that was splattered across the girl's shirt) and ran outside into the fray.

That was putting it lightly.

Buildings were completely demolished already, despite the attack having only begun mere minutes ago. Hunters and Huntresses-in-training were gathered around these large mecha-style robots which were armed with burst cannons and machine guns. Crowded around the legs of these machines were hordes of White Fang members, donning their Grimm masks with their distinct faunus features peeking out. Thick smoke filled the air, and the sound of a roaring fire nearby drowned out the alarms.

Weiss scanned the campus, now a battlefield for Roman, but he had yet to show his face unless he was manning one of those robots. Next she sought out Blake and Ruby, squinting through the smoke, but only placed Blake, fighting one of the robots furthest from them. Yang had noticed her too and deployed Ember Celica, a fire sparking in her eyes.

"Can you find Ruby?"

Weiss opened her mouth to answer but got a mouthful of smoke instead. She coughed harshly into her sleeve and when she was done nodded with tears in her eyes. Yang returned the nod, rushing head first into the battlefield, punching a White Fang member in the throat that came at her. She watched her go and then headed off herself, eyes frantically searching for Ruby. She had promised herself that she would protect her partner with her life and she had no intentions on proving herself a liar.

Lucky for her she didn't have to go far. Surrounding her partner was a large group of White Fang members, all going at her relentlessly. But Ruby wasn't weak; she was holding her own well enough. So well, in fact, that she hardly seemed to be bothered at all by the fact that she was severely outnumbered and outsized. A swell of pride built up in Weiss, almost feeling a little silly that she was so worried for Ruby. If not for the dire situation they were in, Weiss would've sat back and watched.

But they had no time for leisure. Others needed their help and Ruby couldn't expend all her energy on this gang of baddies. So Weiss reached back for Myrtenaster, her right hand conjuring up a glyph beneath her feet.

Her stomach sank when her hand closed around air.

Myrtenaster was back in her dorm room.

She contemplated going back for it and leaving this group for Ruby to handle, something she seemed to be doing just fine on her own, but that's when she heard a high-pitched whine to her left, something she recognized as those robot's bust cannons charging up. A loud boom resonated through the air and in the blink of an eye, Ruby was being thrown against the wall of the building. She smacked the brick _hard_, Weiss heard the sickening sound and it almost made her retch if she were not already frozen in horror, and Ruby came tumbling down to the ground, landing in a cloud of dust and debris. Crescent Rose had been knocked from her hand, skittering and scraping across the pavement, leaving sparks in its wake.

The world around her grew quiet, leaving only a shrill ringing as her vision zoned in on Ruby, laying on the ground, still and silent. Red wrapped itself around her in the form of her cloak and, beneath that, a darker crimson spilled out. She couldn't determine the source of the blood, her mind was full of cotton and her vision was getting blurrier by the second. But she could smell it from here, the sweet rose scent from her dreams, the one her former self had craved in that daunting forest.

Through the blurriness of her vision she noticed a large, built man - one of the White Fang as revealed by the mask that covered the top half of his face- creeping towards her partner. His bulging muscles, carried a large, rustic chainsaw, its blade marked with the insignia of the White Fang in a blood red color. It was raised above his head - the fire in the distance glinting off its blade onto his shaved head - in preparation to strike down on her partner, her savior, her friend, the _girl she loved_.

Something broke.

An impossible heat filled her, melting her insides and boiling to match the anger festering inside her. Her vision turned red and sharp, focused on the man planning to murder a little girl in _cold blood_. Her fingers curled into fists, nails biting into her skin. The heat grew stronger and stronger until Weiss couldn't differentiate it from her burning anger or actual fire. She smelled the putrid smell of decay and darkness and tasted the metallic copper of blood on her tongue. The twitching between her shoulder blades grew more insistent until it was a constant pressure, pushing against her skin furiously. The pain was great and plentiful but not quite as agonizing as the searing of her flesh, steam literally rising through her jacket and off her face, clouding her vision.

Whatever was trying to break free from her back succeeded, bursting through with such force that it forced Weiss to stumble forward, landing on her hands and knees. Something light and soft unfurled behind her, ripping her jacket to shreds which now hung loosely off her still steaming arms. As the rags of what was once her jacket slipped to the ground she could see burning red patterns forming down her arms, like an ingrained fiery tattoo. The spirals and lines were slightly reminiscent, very familiar and yet something that she could not place immediately. Before she could dwell any longer on it, a shroud of darkness wrapped around her, effectively stealing her attention from her arms to the large black, feathered wings encasing her.

These were hers. She remembered them.

Tentatively, she reached out to touch them, to feel and stroke the soft feathers beneath her fingertips, but stopped abruptly in her tracks where she heard the buzz of a chainsaw. She gritted her teeth as the fury rekindled inside her, the heat building up again as she rose to her feet. Locking in on her target who was busy revving up his chainsaw, she furled her hands, the talons elongating into sharp tips, ready to draw blood. Using her wings for a boost, she pushed off the ground, soaring through the air, headed straight for her prey.

She smirked. It felt good to say that again.

When she reached him she drove her hand into his midsection, puncturing it and eliciting a cry of pain from him. Blood poured out his wound around her hand, coating her hand in wrist in its sticky warmth. He dropped his chainsaw and reached behind him with his large, meaty hands, frantically trying to pull her off, but she just dug deeper and twisted inside him, eliciting more pained cries from him. Deciding she had heard enough, she wrenched her hand from his back, watching as a gush of blood followed in her wake and ran down his back in a red river. He fell to his knees, gasping and choking on air as he reached behind him again, patting at the wound but doing nothing to stop the rush of blood.

Weiss walked around him, the absence of clicking bringing her attention to the lack of shoes on her feet, and bent over, watching as his face writhed with mind-numbing pain. The heat inside her consumed her, fueling her anger to new heights and she grinned in total satisfaction over her work. She grabbed his face with her bloody hand, squeezing his cheeks to firmly hold him in place. Her tone was dark and laced with pure malice and hatred when she spoke.

"Do not. Ever. Think of. Touching my partner. Again."

Not expecting a response, she cast him aside, leaving him to lie there in pain and possibly bleed to death. Instead she tiptoed over to Ruby, who still hadn't moved during all of that, and knelt down in front of her. Her expression softened from a gleeful murderer to a concerned lover and she gently scooped up her partner's unconscious body, cradling her. So consumed with checking over Ruby, the heiress didn't even notice her sudden change of wardrobe. Unlike what she had donned after her first transformation, this was not made of feathers but what seemed like black wispy shadows that moved on their own accord, like black flames licking at her legs. This dress was also sleeveless unlike her first one. Her hair had been let loose again, cascading down her back like a white shimmering waterfall and a glance down revealed that somehow a string of black feathers was woven in.

But now was not the time to focus on her new physical appearance (as strange and new as it was). Right now she needed to move Ruby to a safe place away from the action and danger so that she could recover. So she picked her up in her arms and carried her inside the away from all the fighting, putting as much distance between them and the battle as possible. Eventually she came upon a building that seemed to still be untouched by any of the destruction happening behind her - the library.

Wasting no time she rushed in, ignoring the stares of the few who had decided to take refuge in there against the attacks as well. She knew they would definitely have questions, what with her having wings and carrying an unconscious girl in her arms, but now was not the time to be bothered with such trivial curiosities.

She laid Ruby against one of the bookshelves and brushed aside her bangs, locating the source of blood immediately. It was a small cut on her forehead, nothing a few stitches couldn't fix up later on. Relieved that she was relatively unharmed, Weiss breathed out a sigh and smiled, grateful that the universe had once again spared this innocent little girl from certain doom.

Another explosion sounded off in the distance and Weiss frowned.

There was nothing that she would've loved more than to stay here when she awakened, but she couldn't just leave everyone to fight for themselves. She looked down at her talons, having retracted a little so she could carry Ruby safely without scratching her. She may be a monster...but she was not heartless. Not anymore.

Reluctantly rising to her feet, she whipped around to face a group of students cowering against one of the bookshelves. "You," she commanded. "Watch over her. If I come back and she's hurt in any way..." Her eyes burned and her face darkened as she hovered over to them. "Let's just say the destruction of that battle will be nothing compared to what I will do."

Her threat effectively scaring them into submission, as well as quite possibly scarring them for life, Weiss left the library and headed directly into the battlefield.

This time, she'd do things right. She would not be the monster she was in the woods that attacked her partner. This time, she'd help those she cared about.

Her wings carried her above all the fighting, giving her a good look on everything that was going on. Using her new height to her advantage, she once again scanned the battlefield for Roman. Yet once again, she came up empty. Scowling, she scanned it again, looking for her teammates. She found Blake again first, now fighting against a couple of White Fang members along with Velvet and her team. From this angle it looked like they had things pretty under control, so Weiss focused on finding her other teammate, Yang, instead. Not far from Blake she noticed a small burst of fire, believing it to be Yang initially. But upon closer inspection she noticed that this was a woman she had never seen before. Her dark curled hair was combed neatly to one side and her red dress was vibrant and slim. Two younger teens, probably around her age, flanked her on both sides, the girl with light green hair had her weapons drawn while the taller, more lax guy stood there with his arms crossed.

Weiss narrowed her eyes. From the aura that this woman and her lackeys gave off, it seemed they were the ones coordinating this attack, specifically the lady in red. Their best bet on ending this quickly meant that she had to be taken down as soon as possible. With her next mission in mind, Weiss folding her wings against her back, divebombing from the sky and aimed for the three people standing on the edge of the battle. Before she could make it even halfway though, dust plasma from one of those blast cannons hit her in her side, knocking her off course and into a building. The impact from her body cracked the exterior cement, forming a small crater and she yelped in pain. Her body slid from the crater, dropping to the ground below, but instinct pushed her to unfurl her wings to catch her, letting her glide smoothly for a softer, more pleasant landing on her feet.

Across the courtyard was the robot that had shot her out of the sky, charging up its blast cannon again. It's machine gun was pointed in another direction, warding off other students and teachers from getting any closer to it to take it down properly. Clearly no one was getting anywhere with those things still standing around so attempting to get close to the one in charge wasn't even a question right now. So for any of this to end, those mechas needed to be taken care of first and foremost.

Weiss rolled her shoulders and lengthened her talons. _Well...here goes nothing_.

Taking a running start, Weiss pushed off the ground and leapt into the air, her strong wings catching her and lifting her up. The robot's cannon was nearly charged now, so it would do her no good to go in now only to be blasted again. She'd wait for an opening and then go in again.

She only had to wait a few seconds. The cannon now charged and ready, the pilot aimed and fired at her, but she kept flying up and up, away from the blast, not to escape it, but to gain just a bit more height. Because...

The blast was at her heels now, the heat of the plasma licking at them like an overeager puppy.

...With more height comes more momentum...

Right before the blast could touch her, she spiral-rolled out of the way, dodging it cleanly. It passed by in a flash of heat and light, fizzling out as it went into the cooler part of the atmosphere. Not wasting time to give the mecha time to charge another shot she turned to face it, flew up a few more feet and arching so that her heels were above her head and tucked in her wings.

...And with more momentum...

The wind rushed past her face, throwing her hair all about and stinging her eyes. As she fell her speed increased until she was just a blur of motion, heading straight for the mecha. Moments before she reached it she unfolded her arms and stretched them out, talons curled and ready. A smirk played on her lips.

...Comes more power.

The impact was booming, the ripple of it vibrating throughout her body. But she didn't have time to focus on the sensation as her talons ripped through the metal of the robot suit, tearing through wires, plates, pistons, and whatever she hit on her way through. When she emerged on the other side she was relatively unscathed, much less than she could say for the robot she just destroyed. Standing up straight from her rough landing on the ground, she turned to inspect the damage she caused but the robot exploded in a burst of plasma and sparks, knocking her to her knees.

Once the ringing in her ears stopped and her vision stopped wobbling, Weiss looked back to see that what remained of the mecha was no more identifiable than a scrap heap. Well...one down. Doing a quick scan of the immediate area, she found five more mechas roaming around, their attention now called to the fall of their comrade. Grunting in a mixture of pain and annoyance, Weiss took to the air again, ready to take down the next one. However, when she had climbed high enough she noticed that she had miscounted. Instead of five more mechas, there seemed to be what was roughly a dozen.

There had to be some easier way to go about this rather than destroying them one by one and risk getting shot at each time she did so. Sure, it didn't kill her nor did it seem all that lethal to begin with, but being thrown into buildings was a bit more pain than she bargained for.

Three blasts shot at her simultaneously and she dropped out of their range, letting them fly over her into the cold atmosphere above where they would fizzle out. Man, that was getting annoying.

Just as she was about to divebomb the nearest mecha like she had before, an idea struck her. Maybe they _didn't_ have to destroy them. Maybe they just needed to remove the pilots and replace them with their own. They could use the mechas to their advantage and gain the upper hand in this battle.

With that new idea in mind, Weiss dove down to the ground, singling out one of the mechas. She landed on top of it, hard enough to causing it to rock backwards, and broke the glass dome on top with her fist, scratching herself on the glass. Inside the suit was one of the White Fang and before he could knock her off she reached in and yanked him off, tossing him over her shoulder. Down below she noticed a student, one of the upperclassmen from the looks of them, and called out to them. "Hey! Wanna take this thing for a spin?"

She helped the student get settled in and watched as they played with the controls, easily figuring out how to make the suit move and learning which buttons activated the weaponry. Once she was sure they had everything under control, she flew over to the next one, yanking the pilot out of that one as well and replacing them, this time with one of the teachers.

Weiss repeated this process for each mecha suit, avoiding any blasts aimed in her direction, until they had each one in their grasp, officially gaining the upper hand.

With that taken care of, it was time to confront the lady in red.

Circling around the battlefield, she kept out a keen eye for wherever the lady and her lackeys had gone to, knocking down any White Fang in her path with her expansive wings. But after a few circles of the grounds and most of the White Fang defeated, those still standing surrendering, Weiss came upon the conclusion that she wouldn't find what she was looking for.

The lady in red was gone.

* * *

><p>She stood on the steps of Beacon's main building, the cool breeze playing with her hair and the wisps of her dress. Although the smoke in the air had cleared by now, she could still smell the burnt remains the fires left behind on the wind. The sun was red behind the forest of green trees in the distance, painting them orange with it's dark hue.<p>

The aftermath of the battle was calm, the quiet deafening compared to the cacophony of noises that echoed through the campus for the duration of the fight. Rubble and debris were scattered everywhere, some students and teachers working to gather most of it and move it away to make paths for people to walk through. Many students were currently being treated for their wounds, the infirmary filled with more people than it was intended for. The students with more critical injuries were moved to the main land hospital which was overcrowded as well with a mixture of students and civilians. Apparently while the academy was being attacked by the White Fang, Grimm had been unleashed in the city, leaving it in ruin. Glynda was over there now, however, fixing the city and putting everything back in its place. She would be returning to do the same to Beacon once she was done, but it was mutually agreed upon that the city came first.

As soon as things had begun to calm down and people gathered themselves from the shock of the sudden attack, those people also began to notice and question her new appearance, specifically the markings on her face, neck, and arms. Once she was allowed to take a breather, Weiss finally recognized them as the same markings that Grimm had on their masks. It was imbedded into her skin, like a tattoo, marking her as one of them for as long as she lived.

Normally such a notion would've terrified her but now...it was okay. It felt more natural this way. She felt - dare she say it - _free_. For these past couple of weeks she had been trapped in an identity that had been forced upon her, one she wanted nothing to do with. She even denied its existence for awhile, willing it away for good. But it was always there, waiting for its opportunity to return. And that was seeing Ruby in danger.

It was very ironic to say the least. But she was grateful for it now. Without it, Ruby might not be here.

Weiss hummed to herself a pleasant tune.

Footfalls sounded behind her, hesitant and unsure of themselves. She turned around slowly to face her partner, her savior.

Her light.

Ruby stood there before her, a white bandage wrapped around her head. The blood had been washed from her face but remained on her clothes and her hair, causing the strands to stick to each other. Her hands were clasped in front of her, shoulders rigid and tense. Her gaze was directed at her feet, avoiding looking at Weiss.

The heiress sighed and stood there, waiting for her to say something first.

She didn't have to wait long.

"So, uh...no mask this time?"

Of all things...

Weiss chuckled lightly reaching up to touch the markings on her face. "No. No mask this time."

Ruby nodded and rocked on her feet, still avoiding Weiss. "Good. It didn't suit you. It was too creepy." Her eyes finally lifted but darted back down in a flash. Weiss noticed she was blushing now. "The...those, um...those look better on you."

A smile crept onto her lips and her eyes twinkled with genuine happiness. "Thank you. That...actually means a lot."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Weiss eyed the forest from the corner of her eye. "After all, it was this form that I..." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, hoping it would shut out the memories as well. "That I almost killed you."

There was a brief silence.

"Is that what you're worried about?"

She didn't say anything.

The footsteps came closer now, this time confident in their stride and soft hands grasped both of hers. She slowly opened her eyes to look into shining silver ones whose corners wrinkled when their owner favored her with a large grin. "Weiss, you're my partner. Do you really think I care about that?"

Weiss shook her head. "Of course you don't. And that's what worries _me_."

She leaned her head against Ruby's, reveling in their touch, in her heat and her scent, reveling in this moment that was theirs and theirs alone. This girl had wormed her way into her stone cold heart and thawed it single-handedly, undoing years of hardening it to the outside world and its cruelties. Ruby was now her whole world...

...And also one she would have to leave behind.

Sitting out here on her own, away from the gawking stares and cautious looks, she realized that she couldn't stay here. Not like this. At least...not right now. People would judge her and ridicule her if not outright hate her and that wasn't something she was ready to deal with. After all, in a world that was still struggling to accept the existence of faunus, how would they treat someone who was the human embodiment of the very creature that was out to destroy humankind?

That and she thought of the eager scientists taking her blood for their Grimm research and realized that she didn't want to become a permanent test subject in their facility.

So she had to leave.

And Ruby would understand.

Right?

Weiss pulled away from their embrace and cupped one side of Ruby's face, ingraining her features into her brain to remain with her long after she was gone. She wanted to recall every last detail on the loneliest of nights and to smile at the memory of her magnificent partner and leader. Her savior. Her love.

"Ruby," she whispered. "I have to go."

To her surprise, Ruby nodded. "I know. I figured you would."

She understood. Weiss didn't know if that made this easier or harder.

Ruby raised their joined hands and brought Weiss' to her lips. "Promise to visit?"

Weiss smiled. "I'll try."

She leaned in and kissed Ruby's forehead through the bandage only for the younger girl to groan.

"_That's_ what you're leaving me with?"

Weiss laughed when Ruby pouted and wrapped her arms around her neck, bringing her down for a deeper, more heartwarming kiss. Their lips molded together and this time her lips were softer and far more persistent. Her head was locked in place by the red-clad huntress' arms, but she wasn't complaining. This was their last kiss, their last moment together and she planned to get every bit out of it that she could.

Eventually, they did part and with that, it was time to go.

* * *

><p>On the far north edge of the forest Weiss had found a rather spacious cave to call home. It was no comfy dorm room and certainly not a mansion, but it would do. She'd eventually get used to it, or at least enough so until it was safe enough to return to proper civilization. That would probably take awhile though, so she wouldn't hold her breath.<p>

There was one perk about it though. From this height she could see Beacon, it's massively tall buildings towering above the trees of the forest. At night she'd be able to look over at its shining luminescence and picture Ruby along with the rest of her friends, safe and sound. The comforting thought was enough to dispel her yearning to return home.

She sat perched on the edge as the moon climbed slowly in the sky and Beacon's light began to illuminate, rivaling the moon with its brightness. It was beautiful. And in her heart, it was still home. But for now, she had to distance herself, just in case. She had to make sure she had complete control over herself now, that way when she did return, no one would be in danger with her around.

She'd wait as long as it took.

A flapping of wings sounded off to her left and when she turned she found a small Nevermore, a baby, perched next to her, nudging her with its beak. A smile graced her face when she recognized it as the Grimmling that had accompanied her during her first transformation and was injured during her first battle with Ruby. It had survived and returned to her.

Weiss lifted a hand to stroke the head of the baby Nevermore, giggling when it closed its eyes and nudged her hand for more.

"Hey, buddy. Long time no see, huh?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Heyyyy, long time no see for real tho. I haven't uploaded anything at all in over half a year.**

**So anyway, I'll try to keep this brief. If you have anymore questions about this story, feel free to ask my on my tumblr (technoskittles) and I'll answer them there.**

**Basically this is the unofficial sequel to my other story **_Quoth the Raven_ **which is where Weiss turned into a Grimm. The reason it's "unofficial"? Well, clearly 'cause Ruby is alive. So no, I did not bring her back and no, the last story was not a dream. It was real. I have an actual sequel planned for that one that focuses a bit more on Yang and Blake, but Ruby is still dead.**

**However, for this story I really needed her alive so yeah. Unofficial sequel. **

**Anyway, the main reason I even wrote this at all is because I heavily based it off of **Ghost Assassin **by Veela (which is where the lyrics are from btw) and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm (which is what that song is based on). So I was kinda going for a Sarah Kerrigan type deal with this, but with my own grimmdark twist.**

**This is also probably one of my longest oneshots ever and holy crap I'm tired. Don't expect this regularly...or ever again really.**


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